sharing our stories

A couple of weeks ago, I completed a bike ride called the Kelly Brush Century Ride. The choices for distance were 25, 50 or 100 miles, and I chose the 25 since I hadn't ridden in years. A number of people asked me how it went (how I felt, during the ride) and I said,…

Gratitude and a give-away

When I'm having trouble feeling grateful, one thing that I do (to help myself break out of my self-imposed suffering) is to sit down, look around me, and notice all of the gifts that have come to me in unexpected and delightful ways. Sometimes my eye will fall on a cute vase that I just…

Gratitude

I bought 4 old tea cups and saucers (thinking that my sons might like them as part of the Christmas-table centerpiece), but I put them on our coffee table a few days ago, and this morning it occurred to me that there could be no better reminder of what tomorrow is: A day dedicated to…

1000 thank you’s

I ran early this morning and the thought came to me to see if I could say "Thank You", 1000 times over the weekend. Doing some quick calculations, I figured that if I sat for 3 minutes in the morning and evening, and dedicated those times to just thinking and feeling the words, "Thank You",…

Heavenly blessings

Last week, I was lying down on the couch talking with my sister on the phone, and about 5 minutes into our chat, I noticed that my sweater felt damp. I reached behind me and felt my back, and then the couch, and realized with some minor horror that both were wet. Obviously, one of…

Yes to life

Monday afternoon we bought our Christmas tree and as soon as we got it home and up, we both noticed that it looked pale. Then we realized that the needles were falling off at an alarmingly fast rate. It was obviously a tree that had been cut for a while, and we felt bad about…

Good news

I was a horrible student in high school, and prided myself on never taking home a book, which earned me the distinction of graduating at the bottom of my class. When I was in my twenties, I realized that I wanted an education, but had serious doubts about my abilities/intellect. I considered myself to be a…

Keeping the door, for a better future, open

Jack and I were talking about an opportunity that came his way several years ago, one that was fun, exciting, profitable, and totally engrossing. We can both easily remember those feelings of working on the project, first him alone, and then us together. During the conversation I said, "That was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." This statement…

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

As I was sitting at my desk at 5:45 this morning, answering emails, I heard a subtle clucking sound, rhythmic and soft. I didn't pay attention at first. Then I sort of jolted myself awake and grabbed my camera and hustled outside barefooted, and still in my p.j.'s, to see a family of turkeys crossing…

Attitude makes all the difference

Several years ago, we had a huge storm here in the northeast which took the power out for days. As I recall, the temperature hovered around 30 degrees (not cold for us) but by the second day, our house was also that temperature and things that we took for granted, like being able to flush…